A conventional method and apparatus are described in German Patent Application No. 195 06 938, in which a first gear which is equipped with a number of teeth and is rotatably through more than 360.degree. is provided as the first rotatable body. The two further rotatable bodies are also gears, which are in engagement with the first gear and whose numbers of teeth is less than the number for the first gear. In addition, the numbers of teeth of the two further bodies differ, for example, by one tooth.
Associated with each of the two further bodies is a sensor with which the angle of the body can be measured absolutely, i.e. even when the body is stationary. The angle of the first body can be determined from the measured angles of the two further bodies.
The accuracy of the angle determined for the first body can be influenced by an appropriate selection of the number of teeth of the first body and of the two further bodies. It has been found, however, that even after optimization in this regard, the angle determined for the first body still exhibits inaccuracies.